Fred Wilpon’s Statement on Randolph and Minaya
Mets.com released the comments made by Fred Wilpon about Willie Randolph and Omar Minaya after a news conference at the commissioner’s office.
I think Willie did a good job. I think that the results the last, say, 14 months were not up to what we thought it had to be. What Omar finally decided was that he had to make that change.
Obviously, we’ve been playing well in the last few games.
He [Omar Minaya] called me at the end of the doubleheader and asked me whether we can meet. He told us what his recommendation was going to be, and that what he wanted to do was replace Willie and replace the two coaches, and that he wanted to do it expeditiously. He wanted to do it in person. And he said, just like he always does, trades and everything else, he said, `I want to just think about it overnight.’
Management and the owners approved of what his plan was, so we were OK with the switch and we were OK with his recommendation, and he implemented that recommendation.
The intent here clearly was to respect Willie, to respect his feelings and to do it in person. It’s never easy to fire anybody. Believe me, it is not easy to do, and Omar took a lot of time. We took a lot of time listening to him and thinking about it.
It’s all a matter of performance, and Willie knew this when he started. Recognize we gave Willie the chance — Omar gave Willie the chance to be in this position. He had never been a manager in the Major Leagues or Minor Leagues.
I think Omar has done a great job. Everybody who makes decisions is not going to make all right decisions. He has made some great decisions. … Our Minor Leagues are in much better shape than is being reported.
It sounds like bunch of Malarkey to me. I don’t understand how Willie did a ‘good job’ while Minaya did a ‘great job’ when they share the same record. Both of them were responsible for the ups and the downs. I believe that Omar has to take more blame than Willie for giving him too many old players that cannot contribute on a daily basis. I’m also not sold on Wilpon’s comment on the farm system. If it was stronger than the Mets would be able to start getting rid of the bums in the clubhouse. We saw how nobody wanted the Mets prospects last offseason. Are Wilpon’s comments about that to the fans or to the other GMs? Did Randolph oversee the farm system? No. It’s all on Omar now.
